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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
CALLING UPON THE JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL AND THE DEPARTMENT OF PROCUREMENT TO REPORT TO THE COOK COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ON THE SCORING CRITERIA FOR ITS VIOLENCE PREVENTION GRANT AWARDS AND THE ROLE PLAYED BY COMMUNITY VIOLENCE LEVELS IN DETERMINING VIOLENCE PREVENTION GRANT RECIPIENTS
WHEREAS, on July 1, 2015, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approved the award of $800,000.00 in violence prevention grants under a process overseen by the Justice Advisory Council of Cook County; and,
WHEREAS, of the $800,000.00 in violence prevention grant funds awarded on July 1, 2015, no such funds were awarded to organizations doing the work of violence prevention in the Chicago neighborhoods of Austin, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, and North Lawndale; and,
WHEREAS, the Chicago neighborhood of Austin leads all 77 Chicago neighborhoods in homicides, has the 11th highest violent crime rate in Chicago, and has an unemployment rate of 21%, with 27% of its households living below the poverty level; and,
WHEREAS, the Chicago neighborhood of East Garfield Park has the 4th highest violent crime rate in Chicago, and has an unemployment rate of 16.4% with 39.7% of households living below the poverty level; and,
WHEREAS, the Chicago neighborhood of West Garfield has the 2nd highest violent crime rate in Chicago, and has an unemployment rate of 25.2%, with 40.3% of households living below the poverty level; and,
WHEREAS, the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale has the 3rd highest violent crime rate in Chicago and has an unemployment rate of 18.5%, with 38.6% of households living below the poverty level; and,
WHEREAS, Cook County, in its administration of the Justice Advisory Council Violence Prevention Grant Program has directly undertaken an effort to address the issue of neighborhood violence that has decimated poor communities of color in Chicago and Cook County; and,
WHEREAS, the fundamental objectiv...
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